§ MR. H. BAILLIEI wish, Sir, to put to the noble Lord at the head of Her Majesty's Government a question of which I have given him notice, and upon his answer will depend the course I shall take this evening with respect to the Motion which I have placed upon the paper. I wish to ask whether the noble Lord can give any assurance to the House that, within a reasonable and definite period, he will lay upon the table the papers relating 1000 to recruiting in the United States of America, as, if he is able to give such an assurance, I shall not be willing this evening to interfere with the progress of Supply?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, the documents which must naturally form the groundwork of the reply of Her Majesty's Government to the last communication from the Government of the United States were only received a short time ago, and they contain a great mass of detail. My noble Friend Lord Clarendon, as is well known, is now at Paris, engaged in negotiations of a very important character, which occupy a great portion of his attention every day. My noble Friend's powers of work are, however, very remarkable, and, although absent from this country, he is transacting the business of the Foreign Office with only that delay which is necessarily incident to the distance between Paris and the Foreign Office. The answer to be made to the United States' Government necessarily requires very careful preparation—that, on the one hand, it may contain nothing which can at all envenom the discussion that unfortunately has already gone too far; while, on the other hand, nothing may be omitted essential to the case of the British Government. The absence of my noble Friend, the necessity of communication with him, and the small portion of time he has been enabled to bestow upon a matter which requires a great deal of consideration, have been the causes which have hitherto prevented the completion of the answer of the British Government. That answer is in preparation, and we are in communication with my noble Friend upon the subject. I will not undertake to say that in the course of this week the answer can be so entirely agreed upon as to be communicated to Mr. Dallas. My noble Friend may probably return to this country at the end of this week, and I think I may venture to say that at an early period of next week we shall be in a position to submit to the House the whole of the correspondence.
§ SIR BULWER LYTTONsaid, he had given notice of a Motion with reference to the disputes between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the United States respecting the affairs of Central America. He could not bring forward that question until certain papers for which he had asked, and which he was told would 1001 be laid upon the table in a few days, had been produced. He wished to know if the noble Lord could state when those papers would be in the possession of hon. Members?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONsaid, he regretted that the papers to which the hon. Baronet referred had not yet been presented to the House. Those papers were in print; they were now in course of revision; and he hoped that in a very few days—certainly in the course of the week—they would be laid upon the table.
§ MR. H. BAILLIEsaid, that after the statement of the noble Lord he considered it his duty to postpone the Motion of which he had given notice.
§ SIR DE LACY EVANSsaid, he would propose the Amendments he had placed upon the paper when the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Baillie) brought forward his Motion.